


Empty Space

by amuk



Category: Cain Saga and Godchild
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Community: 31_days, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Loss, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 13:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/651159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It dulls, this pain, but it never entirely goes away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Space

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 21. Away Without Official Leave

The pain lessens over time. The sharp stabbing cools into a gnawing ache and that is something she can live with.

 

There is, when she stays still on her bed, an empty space beside her. This is where her head should be resting, where his hand should be stroking her hair. Now is when his voice should speak, his fingers curling into her locks and his posture relaxed.

 

(but never fully, that was reserved for Riff and Riff alone, but she thinks she must have made some progress. Even if it was just a little. Her life had some value to him, even if it was to a lesser degree.)

 

“Merry?” Oscar pokes his head through the door. He tries, hard, to fill in that gap. She lets him, accepting the hugs and kisses and quiet humming. He can carry a tune, surprisingly, and serenades her to sleep.

 

“Yes?”

 

“What’s the baby want today?”

 

She pouts, teasingly. “Oh, not going to ask what I want?”

 

“I always do, dear.”

 

This is one point she didn’t back down from—Oscar isn’t allowed to call her _princess_ , isn’t allowed to stroke her hair and buy bears and dolls as gifts. Those are things reserved for Cain, still, even if she doubts, even if she knows better.

 

“Surprise me.”

 

He grins at that, bright and eager to please. She doesn’t thank him nearly enough for all he does. He probably wouldn’t want to hear it anyways.

 

“Come to the garden.”

 

On bad days, the pain in her chest throbs like it’s alive, like it’s clawing its way out of her chest. Her brother is in nearly everything she sees, in everything she believes in, and it’s hard to ignore it.

 

She pauses at the coat rack, reaching past the always waiting hanger to get her coat. It’s chilly for a spring morning.

 

Before she closes the door, she glances back. Merry can almost make out his outline, his tall hat and stiff posture blurring carefully into the air as he takes off his coat and hat. A blink and the figure is gone once more.

 

Today’s a good day.


End file.
